Lionel Tollmash of Suffolk, a man of a noble family. After her father's death, she took the title of countess of Dysart. She was a woman of great beauty, but of far greater parts. She had a wonderful quickness of apprehension, and an amazing vivacity in conversation. She had studied not only divinity and history, but mathematics and philosophy. She was violent in every thing she set about, a violent friend, but a much more violent enemy. She had a restless ambition, lived at a vast expense, and was ravenously covetous; and would have stuck at nothing by which she might compass her ends. She had been early in a correspondence with lord Lauderdale, that had given occasion to censure. When he was prisoner after Worcester fight, she made him believe he was in great danger of his life, and that she saved it by her intrigues with Cromwell: which was not a little taken notice of. Cromwell was certainly fond of her, and she took care to entertain him in it; till he, finding what was said upon it, broke it off. Upon the king's restoration, she thought that lord Lauderdale made not those returns that she expected. They lived for some years at a distance. But upon her husband's death she made up all quarrels: so that lord Lauderdale and she lived so much together, that his lady was offended at it, and went to Paris, where she died about three years after. The lady Dysart came to have so much power over the lord Lauderdale, that it lessened him much in the esteem of all the world; for he delivered himself up to all her humours and passions. All applications were made to her: she took upon her to determine every thing she sold all places, and was wanting in no methods that could bring her money, which she lavished out in a most profuse vanity. As the conceit took her, she made him fall out with all his friends, one after another: with the earls of Argyle, Tweedale, and Kincardine, with duke Hamilton, the marquis of Athol, and sir Robert Murray, who all had their turns in her displeasure, which very quickly drew lord Lauderdale's after it. If after such names it is not a presumption to name myself, I had my share likewise. From that time, to the end of his days, he became quite another sort of man than he had been, in all the former parts of his life. Sir Robert Murray had been designed by her father to be her husband, and was long her true friend. She knew his integrity was proof against all attempts. He had been hitherto the lord Lauderdale's chief friend, and main support. He had great esteem paid him, both by the king and by the whole court; and he employed it all for the earl of Lauderdale's service. He used great freedom with him at proper times; and was a faithful adviser, and reprover as far as the other could bear it. Lady Dysart laid hold on his absence in Scotland to make a breach between them. She made lord Lauderdale believe, that Murray assumed to himself the praise of all that was done, and was not ill pleased to pass as his governor. Lord Lauderdale's pride was soon fired with those ill impressions. : The government of Scotland had now another face. All payments were regularly made: there was an overplus of 10,000l. of the revenue saved every year. A magazine of arms was bought with it and there were several projects set on foot for the encouragement of trade and manufactures. Lord Tweedale and sir Robert Murray were so entirely united, that, as they never disagreed, so all plied before them. Lord Tweedale was made a privy councillor in England: and, his son having married the earl of Lauderdale's only child, they seemed to be inseparably united. When he came down from London, he brought a letter from the king to the council, recommending the concerns of the church to their care: in particular, he charged them to suppress conventicles, which began to spread generally through the western counties: for upon the disbanding the army, the country, being delivered from that terror, did now forsake their churches, and got their old ministers to come among them; and they were not wanting in holding conventicles from place to place. The king wrote also by him a letter to Sharp with his own pen, in which he assured him of his zeal for the church, and of his favour to himself. Lord Tweedale hoped this would have gained him to his side: but he was deceived in it. Sharp quickly returned to his former insolence. Upon the earl of Tweedale's return, there was a great application to public business: no vice was in reputation: justice was impartially administered: and a commission was sent to the western counties to examine into all the complaints of unjust and illegal oppressions by Turner, Dalziel, and others. Turner's warrants had been seized with himself: and, though upon the defeat given the Whigs he was left by them, so that, beyond all men's expectations, he escaped out of their hands, yet he had nothing to justify himself by. The truth is, this inquiry was chiefly levelled at lord Rothes and Burnet, to cast the odium of the late rebellion on their injustice and ill conduct. And it was intended that Turner should accuse them; but he had no vouchers to shew. These were believed to be withdrawn by an artifice of the lord Rothes. But, before the matter was quite ended, those in whose hands his papers were left, sent them sealed up to his lodgings. But he was by that time broken. So since the government had used him hardly, he, who was a man of spirit, would not show his vouchers nor expose his friends. So that matter was carried no farther. And the people of the country cried out against those censures. It was said, that when by such violent proceedings men had been inflamed to a rebellion, upon which so much blood was shed, all the reparation given was, that an officer or two were broken; and a great man was taken down a little upon it, without making any public examples for the deterring others. Sir Robert Murray went through the west of Scotland. When he came back, he told me, the clergy were such a set of men, so ignorant, and so scandalous, that it was not possible to support them, unless the greatest part of them could be turned out, and better men found to be put in their places. But it was not easy to know how this could be done. Burnet had placed them all and he thought himself in some sort bound to support them. The clergy were so linked together, that none of them could be got to concur in getting proofs of crimes brought against their brethren. And the people of the country pretended scruples. They said, to accuse a minister before a bishop was an acknowledging his jurisdiction over his clergy, or, to use a hard word much in use among them, it was homologating his power. So Murray proposed, that a court should be constituted by a special commission from the king, made up of some of the laity as well as the clergy, to try the truth of these scandalous reports that went upon the clergy: and he wrote about it to Sheldon, who approved of it. Sharp also seemed well pleased with it, though he abhorred it in his heart: for he thought it struck at the root of their authority, and was Erastianism in the highest degree. Burnet said, it was a turning him out of his bishopric, and the declaring him either incapable of judging his clergy, or unworthy of that trust. His clergy cried out upon it; and said, it was a delivering them up to the rage of their enemies, who hated them only for the sake of their functions, and for their obedience to the laws; and that, if irregular methods were taken to encourage them, they would get any thing, true or false, to be sworn against them. The difficulties that arose upon this put a stop to it. And the earl of Lauderdale's aversion to sir Robert Murray began a disjointing of all the councils of Scotland. Lord Tweedale had the chief confidence: and next him, lord Kincardine was most trusted. The presbyterians seeing a softening in the execution of the law, and observing that the archbishops were jealous of lord Tweedale, fancied he was theirs in his heart. Upon that they grew very insolent. The clergy were in many places ill used by them. They despaired of any farther protection from the government. They saw designs were forming to turn them all out: and, hearing that they might be better provided in Ireland, they were in many places brought out, and prevailed on to desert their cures. The people of the country hoped, that, upon their leaving them, they might have their old ministers again; and upon that were willing enough to enter into those bargains with them and so in a very little time there were many vacancies made all over those counties. The lord Tweedale took great pains to engage Leighton into the same counsels with him. He had magnified him highly to the king, as much the greatest man of the Scotch clergy. And the lord Tweedale's chief aim with relation to church matters, was to set him at the head of them: for he often said to me, that more than two parts in three of the whole business of the government related to the church. So he studied to bring in a set of episcopal men of another stamp, and to set Leighton at their head. He studied to draw in Mr. Charteris. But he had such sad thoughts of mankind, and such humble ones of himself, that he thought little good could be done, and that as to that little he was not a proper instrument. Leighton was prevailed on to go to London, where, as he told me, he had two audiences of the king. He laid before him the madness of the former administration of church affairs, and the necessity of turning to more moderate counsels in particular, he proposed a comprehension of the presbyterian party, by altering the terms of the laws a little, and by such abatements as might preserve the whole for the future, by granting somewhat for the present. But he entered into no expedients; only he studied to fix the king in the design that the course of his affairs led him to, though contrary to his own inclinations, both in England and Scotland. In order to the opening this, I must change the scene. The Dutch war had turned so fatally on the king, that it made it necessary for him to try how to recover the affections and esteem of his people. He found a slackening the execution of the law went a great way, in the city of London, and with the trading part of the nation. The house of commons continued still in their fierceness and aversion to all moderate propositions; but in the intervals of parliament the execution was softened. The earl of Clarendon found his credit was declining, that all the secrets of state were trusted to Bennet, and that he had no other share in them than his post required. The lady Castlemain set herself most violently against him; and the duke of Buckingham, as often as he was admitted to any familiarities with the king, studied with all his wit and humour to make lord Clarendon and all his counsels appear ridiculous. Lively jests were at all times apt to take with the king. The earl of Clarendon fell under two other misfortunes before the war broke out. The king had granted him a large piece of ground near St. James's to build a house on: he intended a good ordinary house; but, not understanding those matters himself, he put the managing of that into the hands of others, who ran him into a vast charge, of about 50,000l., three times as much as he had designed to lay out upon it. During the war, and in the plague year, he had about three hundred men at work, which he thought would have been an acceptable thing, when so many men were kept at work, and so much money, as was duly paid, circulated about. But it had a contrary effect; it raised a great outery against him. Some called it Dunkirk house, intimating that it was built by his share of the price of Dunkirk. Others called it Holland house, because he was believed to be no friend to the war: so it was given out, that he had the money from the Dutch. It was visible, that in a time of public calamity he was building a very noble palace. Another accident was, that before the war there were some designs on foot for the repairing of St. Paul's; and many stones were brought thither. That project was laid aside during the war. He upon that bought the stones, and made use of them in building his own house. This, how slight soever it may seem to be, yet had a great effect by the management of his enemies *. Another misfortune was, that he lost his chief friend, to whom he trusted most, and who was his greatest support, the earl of Southampton. The pain of the stone grew upon him to such a degree, that he had resolved to be cut: but a woman came to him, who pretended she had an infallible secret of dissolving the stone, and brought such vouchers to him, that he put himself into her hands. The medicine had a great operation, though it ended fatally; for he passed great quantities of gravel, that looked like the coats of a stone sliced off. This encouraged him to go on, till his pains increased so, that no man was ever seen to die in such torments: which made him oft tremble all over, so that the bed shook with it: yet he bore it with an astonishing patience. He not only kept himself from saying any indecent thing, but endured all that misery with the firmness of a great man, and the submission of a good Christian. The cause of all appeared when he was opened after his death: for the medicine had stripped the stone of its outward slimy coats, which made it lie soft and easy upon the muscles of the bladder; whereas, when these were dissolved, the inner and harder parts of the stone, that were all ragged by the dissolution that was begun, lay upon the neck * Clarendon, it seems, observed to sir Stephen Fox"If my friends can but forgive me the folly of the great house, there is nothing they may not well defend me upon against my enemies."-Oxford ed. of this work. The carl of Dartmouth has left recorded, that he heard the earl of Carberry say, he did not know a single crime committed by Clarendon; but he well knew that if he brought charges against the chancellor, he had so many enemics that he should not fail for want of assistance to substantiate them.-Ibid. The same authority states, that the first assurance to the courtiers of the chancellor's being in disfavour with the king, was the latter permitting Henry Killigrew to mimic him. This wit and humorist imitated him very closely both as to voice and gesture, and the burlesque was rendered more ridiculous by his having others to carry the fire-shovel before him as a mace, whilst he bore the bellows instead of the official purse. The duchess of Cleveland took care to let the chancellor know the insult that was thus offered him, with the hope that he would indignantly retire from office. of the bladder, which raised those violent pains of which he died *. The court was now delivered of a great man, whom they did not much love, and who they knew did not love them. The treasury was put in commission; and the earl of Clarendon had no interest there t. He saw the war, though managed by other counsels, yet was like to end in his ruin for all errors were cast on him. The business of Chatham was a terrible blow; and though the loss was great, the infamy was greater. The parliament had given above five millions towards the war; but, through the luxury and waste of the court, this money was so squandered away, that the king could neither set out a fleet, nor defend his coasts. Upon the news of the Dutch fleet's being in the river, the king did not ride down himself, nor appear at the head of his people, who were then in such imminent danger. He only sent the duke of Albemarle down, and was intending to retire to Windsor. But that looked so like a flying from danger, that he was prevailed on to stay. And it was given out, that he was very cheerful that night at supper with his mistresses, which drew many libels upon him, that were written with as much wit as malice, and brought him under a general contempt. He was compared to Nero, who sang while Rome was burning. A day or two after that he rode through London, accompanied with the most popular men of his court, and assured the citizens he would live and die with his people, upon which there were some acclamations; but the matter went heavily. The city was yet in ashes; and the jealousy of burning it on design had got so among them, that the king himself was not free from suspicion. If the Dutch had pursued their advantage in the first consternation, they might have done more mischief, and have come a great way up the Thames, and burnt many merchant ships; but they thought they had done enough, and so they sailed away. The court was at a stand what to do, for the French had assured them the treaty was as good as finished. Whether the French set this on, as that which would both weaken the flect of England, and alienate the king so entirely from the Dutch, that he would be easily engaged into new alliances to revenge this affront, as many believed, I cannot pretend to determine . It is not within the compass of a note to detail the character given of Thomas Wrothesly, earl of Southampton, by him who knew him best, his intimate friend lord Clarendon." He was a person," says this authority, "of extraordinary parts, of faculties very discerning, and judgment very profound, great eloquence, without the least affectation of words, for he always spoke best on the sudden. He was naturally melancholy, and reserved in his conversation, except towards those with whom he was well acquainted; with these he was not only cheerful, but occasionally light and pleasant. He was naturally lazy, and indulged over much ease to himself; yet no man could keep his mind longer bent, or take more pains. In the treaty of Uxbridge, which was a continued fatigue of twenty days, he never slept four hours in a night, who had never used to allow himself less than ten; and at the end of the treaty was more vigorous than in the beginning. He was a man of exemplary loyalty, courage, virtue, and piety."-See anecdotes of him in Continuation of Clarendon's Life. He died in May, 1667. + This commission was in opposition to Clarendon's wishes. The conversation between him, the king, and the duke of York, is given in the "Continuation of Clarendon's Life." The commissioners were the duke of Albemarle, sir John. Duncombe, lord Ashley, and sir Thomas Clifford. The descent made upon the Dutch coast, at Vly, or Flie, by our fleet, has been already mentioned; and M. De Witt often said, that for this injury and insult, before any peace was concluded, "the Dutch would leave some such mark of their having been upon the English coast, as the English had left of their visit upon that of Holland." To carry this threat into effect, whilst the treaty at Breda was proceeding, De Ruyter, having a fair wind, steered for the Thames. The inhabitants of the Kentish coast, upon the appearance of the Dutch fleet, fled into the interior. It happened that the earl of Winchelsea, then lord lieutenant of the county, was absent, as our ambassador in Turkey; and the deputylieutenants would not any of them venture to take the chief command. The king immediately sent down lieutenant-general Middleton, with a commission to draw together the train-bands, and to command all the forces raised. He assembled these forces at Rochester. "There had been enough discourse all that year of erecting a fort at Sheerness for the defence of the river. The king had made two journeys thither in the winter, and had given such orders to the commissioners of the ordnance respecting the fortifications, that every body believed the work was done. But whatever had been thought or directed, very little had been done. There were a company or two of very good soldiers there under excellent officers, but the fortifications were so weak and unfinished, and all other provisions so entirely wanting, that the Dutch cannon soon beat all the works flat, and drove all the men from the ground." This naturally raised the nation's indignation, and roused the enervated court; the duke of Albemarle marched to Chatham with the guards and other hastily-collected troops. When he arrived there he found general Middleton occupying a strong position, and with a chain passed across the river; but these were ill-judged precautions. The Dutch were too wise to land, and as soon as the tide served, the ships broke through the chain without difficulty. The great oversight and folly was, that no cannon were sent down to the place endangered, for the troops without these could only march parallel to the advancing ships, who were without the range of musketry. "There were two or three ships of the royal navy, negligently, if not treacherously, left in the river, which might have been very easily drawn into safety, and could be of no imaginable use where they then were." The duke of Albemarle put himself and a band of brave The earl of Essex was at that time in Paris, on his way home from the waters of Bourbon; and he told me, the queen-mother of England sent for him, as being one of her son's privy council, and told him, the Irish had sent over some to the court of France, desiring money and arms with some officers, and undertook to put that island into the hands of the French. He told me, he found the queen was in her inclinations and advices true to her son's interest: but he was amazed to see, that a woman, who in a drawing-room was the liveliest woman of the age, and had a vivacity of imagination that surprised all who came near her, yet after all her practice in affairs had so little either of judgment, or conduct; and he did not wonder at the miscarriage of the late king's counsels, since she had such a share in them. But the French had then greater things in view. The king of Spain was dead. And now after the French had managed the war so, that they had been at no part of the expence of it, nor brought a ship to the assistance of the Dutch in any engagement, and that both England and Holland had made a great loss both in ships and treasure, they resolved to manage the peace so, as to oblige the king by giving him a peace, when he was in no condition to carry on a war. I enter not into our negotiation with the bishop of Munster, nor his treacherous departing from his engagements, since I know nothing of that matter, but what is in print. As soon as the peace was made, the king saw with what disadvantage he was likely to meet his parliament. So he thought, the disgracing a public minister, who by his being long in so high a post had drawn upon himself much envy, and many enemies, would cover himself and the rest of his court. Other things concurred to set this forward. The king was grown very weary of the queen; and, it was believed, he had a great mind to be rid of her. The load of that marriage was cast on the lord Clarendon, as made on design to raise his own grandchildren. Many members of the house of commons, such as Clifford, Osborn, Ker, Littleton, and Seymour, were brought to the king; who all assured him, that upon his restoration, they intended both to have raised his authority, and to have increased his revenue; but that the earl of Clarendon had discouraged it, and that all his creatures had possessed the house with such jealousies of the king, that they thought it was not fit to trust him too much, nor too far. This made a deep impression on the king, who was weary of lord Clarendon's imposing way, and had a mind to be freed from the authority, to which he had been so long accustomed, that it was not easy to keep him within bounds. Yet the king was so afraid to engage himself too deep in his own affairs, that it was a doubt whether he would dismiss him or not, if a concern of one of his amours had not sharpened his resentment; so that what other considerations could not do, was brought about by an ill-grounded jealousy. Mistress Stewart had gained so much on the king, and yet had kept her ground with so much firmness, that the king seemed to design if possible to legitimate his addresses to her *, when he saw no hope of succeeding any other way. The duke of Richmond, being a widower, courted her. The king seemed to give way to it. and young gentlemen into one, but was persuaded to leave it, as it would be a useless sacrifice of their lives if they attempted to defend it. These vessels and some laden merchantmen were burnt by the Dutch; and, without doubt, if they had prosecuted the present advantage they had with the necessary circumspection and courage, they might have fired the royal navy at Chatham, and taken or destroyed all the ships that lay higher in the river; but they thought they had done enough, and so returned with the ebb.""The distraction and consternation of the court and city was as great as if the Dutch had been not only masters of the river, but had really landed an army of one hundred thousand men. They who remember that conjuncture, and were present in the galleries and privy lodgings at Whitehall, whither all the world flocked with equal liberty, can easily call to mind many instances of such wild despair, and ridiculous apprehensions, that I am willing to forget, and would not that the least mention of them should remain. If the king's and duke's personal composure had not restrained men from expressing their fears, there wanted not some who would have advised them to leave the city." The Dutch made a demonstration as if they intended to make a similar descent upon the coasts of Essex and Suffolk, whither the duke of York went to take the command; but this proceeded no further than the insult.—Clarendon's Continuation of his Life, ii. 420. According to the duke of Albemarle's statement, laid before the house of commons, the chief blame of the Dutch doing even the small damage they did, was to be attributed to commissioner Pett.-Chandler's Debates in House of Commons, i. 114. At the same time the house shewed by its vote that they felt the chief blame was with the government, for, notwithstanding the liberal supplies to maintain the navy, "there was not a sufficient number of ships left to secure the rivers Medway and Thames." The most authentic narrative of the proceedings in parliament upon this and other "miscarriages," is in "Grey's Debates," i. 23, &c. Pett was impeached, but the proceedings fell to the ground. Ibid. 39. That was by divorcing his queen, and marrying this lady. |